Happy Monday! My heart is so happy today. Spending Mother’s Day with my mom (and my brother!) was something my soul needed. I needed to see them and talk to them and laugh with them. I’m so glad we were able to hang out—and also shower my mom with lots of love! She definitely deserves it.
Last week was another solid week of reading for me! I’m on a three-books-a-week binge lately. I’m about seven books ahead of my goal of reading 135 books, so I’m pretty sure this will be another banner year of reading for me. I’ve said it so many times before, but I’m so, so glad that reading continues to be a comfort for me.
Books Finished
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn (★★★★☆)
One-sentence synopsis: A year after Meg hand-lettered a secret message into Reid’s wedding program, he returns to find out how she knew his marriage was doomed to fail.
I mentioned last week that I was having a little trouble getting into this book, but now that I’ve finished it, I can fully sign off on it! It was such a fun read, and I loved learning more about the world of hand-lettering and the planner/paper goods industry. Reid and Meg were both such great characters—Meg with her bubbly personality and Reid with his more stoic one—and I found it hard to tear myself away from the book as it progressed. I also loved how NYC was essentially another character of the novel; I found that to be such a special touch. There was a secondary plot between Meg and her best friend, who had started drawing away from Meg and their friendship as a whole, and I was interested to see how the author would address this issue. I was coming off a book that seemed to glorify a toxic friendship, and I was really hoping this author would do better. Thankfully, she did. She addressed the situation in an honest, relatable way that I think most people with long-term friendships could identify with.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★★)
One-sentence synopsis: At 79 years old, movie star Evelyn Hugo tells her life story and the truth behind her seven marriages.
This is a book that I have been highly anticipating! I love everything TJR writes and I was positive that I would love this novel as well, especially since it came so highly rated by many trusted readers. And it most definitely lived up to the hype! Evelyn Hugo is a sensational character and the Hollywood setting of the 1950s-1980s was perfection. This book has made me look at movie stars in a completely different light, though. How did some of them get their breaks? What are they truly like outside of their media persona? What’s the real truth behind some of their mishaps and foibles? We really don’t know! It’s crazy to think about. There was a little “twist” in this novel, as Evelyn Hugo is telling her life story to a woman, Monique, a writer who isn’t sure why Evelyn specifically requested her for the story. It all comes to light in a way I really wasn’t expecting but didn’t feel too out-of-place in the novel. Anyway, this book was delightful from beginning to end and now I’m just dying for TJR’s next release!
For Better or Worse by Lauren Layne (★★★★★)
One-sentence synopsis: When Heather confronts her playboy neighbor about the live music he plays every night, sparks fly for these two very different people.
Ahhh… this book was so charming. I loved the verbal sparring between Heather and Josh, and the very natural way their enemies-to-lovers relationship evolved. I thought it was a little silly the way the author tried to keep us in the dark about Josh’s cancer (he’s in remission) because it’s right in the synopsis about it! I suppose the author was trying to mirror the way Heather was in the dark about it, too, because Josh finally talks about his cancer once it’s revealed to her. But I still found it all a little unbelievable at times. However, this book earns five stars because I had a stupid goofy grin on my face the entire time I read it. (Good thing nobody could see me! Ha.)
What I’m Reading This Week
I have about 100 pages to go in The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall and I am loving this book! It’s a character-driven novel and the characters are so dynamic and fascinating that I’m finding the book hard to put down. It’s about two men who become ministers at the same church at the same time in 1963 and the way their faith evolves through this experience. And it’s also about their wives who are two very different women and choosing two very different paths as ministers’ wives. It’s not a Christian book in any way, but I think my faith background is helping me forge a special connection to this book.
I’m also dipping in and out of Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai, which is the third book in her Forbidden Hearts series. I’m not very far into it—maybe 50 pages—so I don’t have much to say about it just yet!
What are you reading?
I am so glad you had a great time with your mom and bro! YAY!!!!
What a banner reading week! And that is awesome you are so ahead of your goal. I am really pumped for Love Lettering now and want to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, too! (But am at capacity for my Libby requests so will have to put that in as soon as I get one, ha). You have me curious about the twist, like if it’s similar to the “twist” in Daisy Jones & The Six.
I just started the book I picked for Amazon First Reads for June – If You Must Know.
Omg I LOVED the Seven Husbands. I stayed glued to my Kindle for a day and a half until it was all read.
I’m so glad you are loving “The Dearly Beloved” – I read and loved that earlier this year. I just loved the examination of 2 couples with very different wives who had very different relationships with their faiths. Such a good read!
I’m reading “Know My Name” by Chanel Miller. She was the victim of that awful sexual assault on Stanford’s campus. The one where the defendant got 6 freaking MONTHS. Unreal. It’s a really heavy and sad read. But it’s an important read as it highlights all the terrible ways that victims are treated. It’s a book I think about after I go to bed at night. Just makes me sick. Next I am going to read “Writers & Lovers” by Lily King. I was browsing books on libby that are available immediately and was SHOCKED to see this new release. So I snatched it up!
Hey! New reader here (and latest follower)! I love love LOVED The Dearly Beloved—it gave me so much to think about, and I still think about it even now, several months later.
I actually read my first Taylor Jenkins Reid book just last month (Daisy Jones and the Six) and need to finish one or two more before I decide how I feel about her stuff. Have you read Maybe In Another Life (I think that’s what it’s called)? That was the next one of hers I was thinking of, but what would you recommend?
I looooved The Seven Husband’s of Evelyn Hugo. Such a good book!